Showing irreverence to rajnitibids by calling them loathed, dishonourable and corrupt won't possibly be as upsetting if one can identify what attributes embody such a class of people?

The synonym for the word "politician" in Bengali is "rajnitibid." It's been conjoined with three distinct syllables each has its distinctive nuance. The "raj" refers to "royal or state." "Niti" refers to "policy" and "bid" refers to "expert." The word "rajnitibid" implies much more significance and cachet in terms of both statesmanship and wisdom than should be accorded to most Bengali politicians.

This is because very few of our current politicians are versed in the science of governance. Since a politician is distinguished as someone who influences the way a society is governed through political savvy, altruistic service, and party dynamics I see crisscrossing of dismal pictures in our political landscape.

These politicians can be broadly classified into four overlapping casts and creeds: (a) Rajnitibid (people of wisdom and knowledge, such as Dr. Kamal Hossain, Barrister Moinul Hossain, and the likes), (b) Rajnoitik organizers and activists (dedicated party leaders and activists, (c) Rajnoitik hoodlums (opportunity seekers ready to commit criminal wrongdoings), and (d) Rajnoitik party supporters (honest and exploited citizens).

Most people who are engaged in political activities (activists) and choose politics as their profession may not be called rajnitibid. Analogously, calling a person engaged in economic activities as "ortho-niti-bid" (economist) is a misnomer.

Why doesn't politics attract bright students like my Dhaka University physics classmate Haider Akbar Khan Rono? Obviously, a career in politics is arduous and uncertain. Furthermore, doing student-politics as a surrogate of a national party and achieving academic excellence are incompatible. But that should not raise eyebrows of professional politicians when we join politics at a later stage as Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus just did?

Yunus isn't the first to ascribe the nexus between joining politics and making money. According to Wikipedia: "Although politics has historically been considered an honourable profession, many people today have a poor opinion of politicians as a class. Not only do people often disagree with their policies, they are sometimes seen as unscrupulous, willing to do anything to gain power, or abusive of their position and privileges."

In our high-handed and dysfunctional party structure the true "rajnitibid" and those astute in statecraft (like the CTG advisers) are often bypassed or shutout of the process in order to make room for inferior minds with money and muscle. Many high political positions are held hostage by those who couldn't compete in academics but mastered the art of organizing hartals, blockades, and the aggression of "dharo-maro-khao."

Yunus's observation that people join politics for money predictably ticked off some politicians. First the performance of the CTG advisers made them jittery and insecure. That insecurity was compounded by Yunus's foray into politics, as evidenced by Sheikh Hasina's recent indignant outbursts.

"Those who blame the politicians are now trying to be politicians. Why are you so eager to join politics after abusing the politicians so much," said Hasina on February 17.

It shouldn't be too difficult to comprehend that Yunus and many of us want to join politics of sanity and probity in abhorrence of polluters of politics. The country needs new direction while politics needs sanitization.

Sheikh Hasina, for all these years, was evenly matched with Khaleda Zia on many accounts. Under the looming political landscape where would the two mutually antagonistic rivals stand relative to the exalted stature of Yunus? The politicians have every reason to feel insecure and threatened by Yunus and the changes he represents. In sum, they're afraid that Yunus might redefine politics as an honourable and altruistic profession.

Hasina's observations that one who wants to be politician "all of a sudden" would bring disaster to the country and pollute politics is sheer nonsense. Can any one really make politics as disastrous as Hasina and Khaleda have made it today?

Another outrageous statement she made is that "there is no difference between the corrupt, bribe takers and interest takers ... Those who take interest not only failed to eradicate poverty, but also nurture poverty."

Demand for the rationale for the high rate of interest that Grameen Bank charges on micro-credit and Yunus's asset disclosure are fair game for discussion. But equating political corruption with the Grameen Bank's interest rate policy (knowing that collecting undisclosed political contributions from businesses is no different from bribes) is below the belt -- a crass, puerile, and shameless attempt to draw Yunus into the vitriolic politics that Hasina is accustomed to. Yunus chose the high ground, rebuffed Hasina's slurs, and refused to exchange vituperative diatribes with her.

Is Yunus's political venture behind Hasina's growing impatience for early election? On February 21, she cautioned the CTG that people won't accept an extra-constitutional government. Other political hacks have pleaded that they will rescue the country from the present disaster. Are these portents of a brewing movement to hamstring the ongoing clean up of corruption?

When would the politicians realize that the people are abhorrent of unethical behaviour, corruption, and association with criminal wrongdoers which have apparently become their benchmark and turned the government to a disastrous predicament? The CTG advisers are hired to do the jobs the politicians and the people have long struggled for. Have they finished their jobs?

E. Messner (American Journal of Psychotherapy, July 1981) wrote: "Observations, by a psychoanalyst who has served as an elected public official, reveal that exposure to conflicting demands from constituents may arouse a sense of depletion." Add to that the mounting pressure from family members (wife and children) to live beyond means, and we can see how politicians may be driven to feelings of entitlement and self-indulgent behaviour -- a possible precursor to political corruption and intolerance to new entrant in politics. Messner recommended "preventive and therapeutic interventions" for these people.

Ostensibly, the CTG, intelligentsia, free media, columnists, and the citizens are injecting the full dose of "preventive and therapeutic interventions" to the "professional politicians" for their transformation to "rajnitibid" in the befitting sense of the term.

Dr. Abdullah A. Dewan is Professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University.